As your body grows bigger, your mind must flower, it’s great to learn, ’cause knowledge is power.
Packed with energy, colorful characters and some iconic songs, “Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.” is certain to make learning fun this weekend.
The joint production of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center and Iola Community Theatre brings to the forefront a cast of talented young singers and dancers to recreate the musical shorts made famous on Saturday mornings a generation ago.
The premise: Michael Maness is Tom Mizer, a teacher anxiously awaiting his first day of school.
A million thoughts are running through his head. Will he be a great teacher? Will the students think him goofy? Is he even a morning person?
Suddenly, his own thoughts manifest themselves into a menagerie of characters, ready to help gear him up for the classroom.
They do so by reliving an educational relic from his past — “Schoolhouse Rock.”
At first, Tom is a bit befuddled by his hallucinations as they try to explain they are him, and all of his ideas, and all of his memories, and every place he’s gone or person he’s met.
We’re everything you’ve ever known.
It marks a perfect segue into the first memorable tune, “A Noun Is A Person, Place Or Thing.”
Maness is pitch-perfect as Tom, slowly picking up confidence as the show proceeds.
But he’s a single piece in a motley crue of talented.
Donovan Nee, Stephenie Fees, Taegan Noyes, Piper Jordan and Bella Rahming take turns as featured performers as the production picks up steam, quickly transitioning from one number to another, covering a full school day’s lesson plan, from grammar to math, civics, history and science.
They’re backed by an equally colorful ensemble of Brox Elbrader, Lanie Mileham, Seattle Nagy, Finley Nelson, Jim Olson, Aaliyah Rhodes, Ryker Roach, Evie Schooler, Wilder Schooler and Chloe Sinclair, who appear in a moment’s notice, donning simple, yet effective, costumes and props. (Olson and Rhodes each get their time to shine as well.)
The tunes are ones most folks from Generation X and older will recall with a smile, while the younger millennials are certain to catch themselves humming or singing along.
The production, directed by Mandy Moyer, is brought to life with students manning most of the behind-the-scenes roles.
